KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in remarks broadcast Thursday that Kyiv is delaying its long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia’s occupying forces because Ukraine lacks enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties.

His remarks, in an interview with European broadcasters, were aired shortly before Britain said it has sent Ukraine air-launched cruise missiles that would allow pilots to extend their reach farther than possibly any other weapon in their arsenal, to locations deep behind the front line.

WARSAW, May 11 (Reuters) - Danil Yugoslavsky had long hated Vladimir Putin. The tech worker says he protested for fair elections in Russia for several years before he left his homeland in despair in 2017 and eventually settled in Spain.

Even so, he never suspected his yearning to topple the Russian president would one day see him join a far-right paramilitary group founded by a former soccer hooligan known as White Rex and march into the war in Ukraine.

MOSCOW, May 11 (Reuters) - The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group said on Thursday that his forces' flanks were under pressure near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, resulting in the loss of ground that his men had captured at heavy cost.

Yevgeny Prigozhin has argued that it is the job of regular Russian forces to protect Wagner's flanks near Bakhmut, the city at the centre of the longest and bloodiest battle of the war.

"The situation on the flanks is developing according to the worst predicted scenario," Prigozhin said in an audio message.

LONDON, May 11. /TASS/: British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has confirmed that London is sending Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles to Kiev.

While addressing the House of Commons on Thursday, Wallace described the move as "a calibrated and proportionate response to Russia’s escalations." "The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory," the British defense chief stated.

10 May 2023; MEMO: Saudi Arabia is planning to transform Islam's second holiest city of Madinah into a "modern Islamic and cultural destination" according to a report yesterday by Arab News.

YAOUNDE, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Cameroon hopes to attract more Chinese investment when it takes part in the upcoming third China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo, said a Cameroonian trade official on Tuesday.

Joseph Mutomby Ndumbe, director of foreign trade at Cameroon's Ministry of Trade, made the remarks during a promotional conference organized in the capital Yaounde to invite the Central African nation to participate in the expo to be held in China.

LABUAN BAJO, Indonesia, May 11 (NNN-XINHUA) – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), demonstrated its confidence in becoming the world’s new economic powerhouse, reflected at a summit held this week in the Indonesian town of Labuan Bajo.

This year’s 42nd ASEAN Summit, under Indonesia’s ASEAN chairmanship, is themed “ASEAN Matters: Epicentrum of Growth.”

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — At one end of a long avenue leading through the western districts of Belgrade, there is a large and freshly painted mural that reads: Boulevard of Ratko Mladic.

It’s been there for months or even years, regularly renovated and kept in clean blue and white colors, never vandalized or painted over although thousands of people pass it by every day.

WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers introduced a bill on Thursday intended to bar the American government from recognizing Bashar al-Assad as Syria's president and to enhance Washington's ability to impose sanctions - a warning to other countries normalizing relations with Assad.

The bill, first reported by Reuters, would prohibit the government from recognizing or normalizing relations with any Syrian government led by Assad, who is under U.S. sanctions, and expands on the Caesar Act, which imposed a tough round of sanctions on Syria in 2020.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed a fourth militant commander on Thursday, raising the death toll from the latest burst of fighting to 25. Israel braced for more rocket fire amid reports of faltering Egyptian attempts to broker a cease-fire.

It has been the worst bout of fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza in months, and among the dead were also women and children. The conflagration comes at a time of soaring tensions and spiking violence over the past year in the occupied West Bank.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — A candidate in Turkey’s presidential election announced Thursday that he was withdrawing from the race, a move that’s likely to bolster President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main challenger.

Muharrem Ince, the leader of the center-left Homeland Party, was one of four contenders running for president in the May 14 election. Turkey will also be holding a parliamentary election at the same time.

KYIV, May 11 (Reuters) - A Ukrainian brigade commander fighting in the ruins of Bakhmut said Russian mercenary forces have stepped up shelling and artillery attacks in recent days and were not facing a munitions shortage, despite its chief's claims to the contrary.

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has complained for weeks that Russia's army is depriving his Wagner troops of enough ammunition to capture the eastern Ukrainian city, where months of fierce fighting have been dubbed the "meat grinder".